This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

No, the U.S. is not going to ban Canadian meat imports

But an audit by U.S. inspectors still raises concerns about Canadian meat production.

A 2014 audit by the U.S. Agriculture Department said there were several food safety and sanitation weaknesses in Canada’s meat, poultry and egg inspection system. (Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Representatives from both the CFIA and the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) say that there is no such deadline, and no risk to trade between the two countries.

“CFIA has taken a number of steps, or corrective actions, to resolve the issues identified in the FSIS audit report,” a spokesperson for the FSIS told the Star in an email.

The 2014 audit was a follow-up to one conducted in 2012, when U.S. inspectors found numerous safety violations in Canadian meat production. While many of those concerns were remedied by the time of this latest audit, the FSIS still took the CFIA to task for a number of sanitation infractions.

Article Continued Below

Two slaughterhouses tested pork and beef for fecal matter after it was washed, while the U.S. inspectors said it should be tested beforehand, when fecal and digestive material is easier to spot.

Inspectors also noticed rusty pipes and leaky ceilings above food preparation areas in four audited establishments. Although they found no contamination, the inspectors said they had “serious concerns” about Canada’s safety standards.

The CFIA also didn’t do environmental testing for listeria in food production plants. Instead, food companies were responsible for testing the products themselves for the deadly bacteria.

That has Rick Holley, a food safety expert at the University of Manitoba who advised the government during the deadly Maple Leaf Foods listeria outbreak in 2008, worried.

“We’ve just got to do a better job, more often, and if we can, all the time, than we’re currently doing,” he said.

Holley sounded the alarm that listeria outbreaks may be on the rise last year.

The CFIA has since updated its manual to include procedures for testing non-food contact surfaces.

The audit’s findings have spurred the agricultural union that represents federal food inspectors, which has long campaigned against government cuts to the CFIA, to condemn Canada’s approach to food safety.”

“These findings are symptomatic of the serious shortage of inspectors. For too long, the previous government starved food safety,” said Bob Kingston, president of the food inspectors union, in a press release. “This is a red flag that the new government needs to implement its election promise of new investment to shore up frontline food inspection.”

In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, the CFIA says it had already addressed the concerns in the audit, which was conducted from May 28 to June 13, 2014.

“The final audit report confirms that Canada’s meat, poultry and egg inspection systems are equivalent to the U.S. inspection systems, and that all Canadian federally registered establishments permitted to export to the US can continue to export goods,” the statement said.

But while the agency remedied some of issues, it also fought back on a number of points in its submissions to FSIS last May.

The agency said the critiques of its overhead sanitation had already been identified by CFIA, and thus should be left out of the audit process.

“For these reasons, the CFIA is of the opinion that the choice of words in this section paints an inaccurate picture of the actual situation. We therefore request the reference to CCA oversight of SPS issues be deleted and that the performance level of this component be noted as adequate in the final report,” wrote Terence McRae, the CFIA’s director of food imports and exports, in his response to the 2014 audit.

McRae also objected to the CFIA receiving an overall grade of “adequate.” The lowest passing score, “adequate” inspection systems require more U.S. oversight and producers that continue to fail can lose export privileges.

“The CFIA does not agree with the overall ‘adequate’ level rating for its inspection system,” McRae submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in May.

“At the closing meeting no establishments had been delisted or given a Notice of Intention to Delist.”

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com